


Two Birds in The Nest at Night

by The Author (Yours_The_Author)



Series: Feathered Friends [4]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Azran Legacy Spoilers, Birds, Dinner, Feathered Friends, In Reference to their UK Names, Late at Night, M/M, Macaw's Last Name is Rook, Robin's Last Name is Bishop, Slowly Getting More Romantic, Targent, These Two Need More Content, Two-Man Group Program, crumpets, workplace shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27089284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yours_The_Author/pseuds/The%20Author
Summary: The Nest at night is not much different from The Nest at day, but that doesn't mean Robin won't try (by Azran, he'll try!). While attempting to gaze at the stars in the smog-covered sky from a rooftop, he loses track of time. Luckily, his partner Macaw is always prepared to help him out of a bind, even if it means breaking a rule to do so...
Relationships: Macaw/Robin (Professor Layton)
Series: Feathered Friends [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1838968
Kudos: 2





	Two Birds in The Nest at Night

**Author's Note:**

> Another Feathered Friends fic? So soon?! Ye.  
> -  
> So I finished my homework yesterday, so I wanted to do a little writing for fun. These two desperately, desperately need more content. They have an entire bonus episode, for crying out loud! And, as my little sister succinctly put it, [AZRAN LEGACY SPOILER INCOMING] "they basically eloped from The Nest at the end of the game." So yeah. If only people could see what was right in front of them.  
> -  
> Anyway, the basic idea I had for this one was stargazing, but you can't really do that in The Nest. Also, considering pretty much every Feathered Friends fic I've written up to this point has taken place in the nest, the title of this one is a bit vague, but I couldn't come up with anything better (the first title was worse). Anyway, I'll see you all at the bottom of the page.

The Nest was a headquarters with mostly intact roofs for people to be under, and that was about it. It was very unstable, very unclean, and very unpleasant in general. If you asked Robin Bishop, a headquarters for a powerful and evil-ish organization should have been just as impressive. He had no idea who The Nest could possibly impress (pollution enthusiasts?), but it definitely wasn't him. Or people with eyes, really. Too bad most of the Targent members had eyes.

Robin was using his eyes right now to try and peer through the smog in the night sky. He had heard once that being farther away from big cities meant that stars were supposed to be super visible, and The Nest was about as far away from civilization as you could get, but there were no stars bright enough to peek through the haze. The moon barely lit up the dirty brown clouds that covered that covered the "city". Maybe that was the problem? The Nest had lots of tall buildings over a large area, so it technically counted as a city. Cities, apparently, were supposed to be notorious for not having stars at night.

Robin hadn't been on a lot of missions outside of The Nest at night. He got very sleepy and was labeled "even more incompetent than usual" (honestly, the nerve of some superior ranking officers! When it's dark, you sleep; when it's light, you work. It wasn't his fault they had their internal clocks messed up). He _did_ remember what the night sky was supposed to look like, though. He hadn't always lived in The Nest, after all.

Yes… that must have been why he was still awake, despite how dark it was. He was trying to recapture that peaceful coolness of the nights when he was a lad, with the chilly breezes and the fresh air and the midnight blue sky covered in white specks. All he was getting now were the biting winds of being high up. Better than nothing, he supposed, though he could have done without the stink of the smoggy air.

Aside from the creak of the building swaying on its foundation, it was quiet. Robin liked that. He was always so full of energy, eager to run from point A to point B in record time, that he often forgot how nice the quiet was. Even when he was alone in his quarters at bedtime (excuse him, curfew), he'd always find himself tossing and turning, bouncing his legs under the covers until eventually he'd realize he was waking up in the morning.

Up here, though, he found a peace he hadn't felt in… had he ever felt it? His mind was unusually still, drinking in the dark brownish gray of evening. It was darker than it should have been, given the winter season was coming. It was like he didn't physically exist in that moment; he was simply observing.

Observing…

Observing…

Observing—

"Robin?"

Robin yelped and flailed his arms before falling on his side. The person standing behind him sucked in a sharp breath. No matter how many times he fell over, his partner would always fret over him. Robin liked that about him.

"Hiya, Macaw!" He waved up at his tall, dark, handsome partner while still lying on his side. Macaw Rook's outline was just visible in the dark, but Robin had studied that outline enough to recognize it out of the corner of his eye. Macaw was hovering his arms in front of him. Robin got the message and sat up, patting himself down. "All good! Not even a scratch!" He confirmed.

Macaw sighed and lowered his arms. "…You missed dinner," he said.

"I did?" Robin's stomach rumbled. "Oh, I guess I did."

"That's very unlike you." Robin patted the roof next to him and Macaw sat down. "You've always said that meal times were your favorite part of the day. I was wondering where you were."

"It is, but the food isn't always that good."

"Is it ever good?"

"…No." Macaw breathed a laugh. It was a warm sound, or at least, it made Robin feel warm, up here in the cold heights of the building roof. His stomach rumbled and he curled in on himself a bit. "I kind of wish I hadn't skipped it, even if it was probably celery and boxed curry or something," he said.

"Actually, it was tripe and crumpets tonight."

"Crumpets!" Robin cried. "I can't believe I missed out on crumpets!"

"For the record, they were savory, not sweet."

"…Oh. Still." His stomach rumbled again.

"I…" Macaw hesitated, and Robin looked up to see him pulling a small bundle out of his pocket. "I brought some crumpets up from the Mess Hall… if you're interested." He unraveled the bundle, which turned out to be a napkin wrapped around a few slightly burnt-smelling crumpets.

Robin gaped, looking between Macaw and the food. Had Macaw—his rule-following, by-the-book partner—actually broken one of the rules just to bring him a snack?

Macaw shifted awkwardly under his gaze. "If you don't want them—"

"NO, I DO!" Robin squawked. Macaw's shoulders raised a bit. "I mean… I do. Yes, thank you, Macaw. This means… the world to me."

Macaw hunched over even more. "They're just crumpets…"

"But you broke the 'don't take food out of the Mess Hall' rule to bring them. And it'd be shame if they went to waste, so…" Robin picked up a crumpet and moved as if he were raising a glass. "Cheers, Macaw!" He took a bite.

It was indeed burnt, but that added a bit of a warmth to the pastry. Robin could also taste spring onions, which gave a strong, savory taste that also warmed him. It was actually one of the best things he'd eaten at The Nest in a while.

Macaw was looking down at the other crumpets still in his hand. "You don't have to look like that…" he muttered.

"Lahk whuh?" Robin asked with his mouth full. Macaw gave him a look, and he swallowed. "Like what?"

"Like they're the best things you've ever eaten."

"They're not," Robin clarified. "But they're pretty close. They make me feel warm, like you do! So having both you and them makes me feel double warm!"

Macaw nibbled a crumpet, averting his eyes again. "You shouldn't just say things like that…" he mumbled.

"Why not? It's the truth."

"Ah…" Macaw finished his crumpet and handed the rest to Robin. "Why… did you decide to skip dinner, anyway?"

"Oh!" Robin looked up at the sky again. It had gotten even darker in the few minutes they'd been up here together; making the moon _just_ a little more visible behind the polluted smoke in the sky.

Macaw followed his eyes. "Were you trying to stargaze?" He asked.

"Yep! That obvious, huh?"

"Not much else to do up here. But… you know that there aren't any stars, right?"

Robin gasped. "Stars aren't real?!"

"Wha—no, no, I mean there aren't any stars to see at The Nest. The smog covers up the sky too much, and even if there wasn't any smog, the lights from the buildings would drown out the stars."

"How does that work?"

"Have you never heard of light pollution?"

"Now you're making things up! How can light cause pollution? It's light."

"I'm not sure of the exact science, but I assure you, it's real." Macaw gestured toward the sky. "You know how it's hard to see stars in cities? Well, somehow, a lot of bright lights in a small area makes the sky harder to see. That's why the sky looks orange or brown in big cities. There's so much light on the ground, it interferes with the stars in the sky. They're not bright enough to combat so much light so close to the ground. At least, I assume that's how it works."

"Wow…" Robin breathed. "You're so smart, Macaw!"

Macaw lowered his cap over his eyes. "You… why did you want to stargaze?"

"Hmmm… I dunno! I guess I was just thinking about when I was a kid, how I'd open my bedroom window and look out over the scenery. The air was fresh, the wind was cold, and the stars… were very pretty. I guess I wanted to recapture that. But I can't."

Macaw turned to him; his surprise just visible. "It… might not be possible here…" he said slowly. "But maybe someday?"

"Someday," Robin agreed, "but that probably won't be until after we discover the Azran Legacy and become heroes. Sitting up here kind of stinks, but it's not so bad. And…" he turned from the moon to face his partner. "…now that you're here, it's even less bad."

"…Oh," Macaw said. They looked at each other for a moment. Robin was smiling, trying to keep his grin from stretching his face too much. Macaw's jaw was slightly slacked; Robin loved it when he managed to surprise him enough to make him slip from his rigid self-control. It was fun and endearing in a way that made him feel even warmer now that the crumpets were gone.

Down below, there was a familiar buzzing sound. Macaw whispered a curse. "Five minutes until curfew. I don't think we have enough time to get down from here and make it to our separate buildings, even if we run." The flat roofed building they had been sitting on wasn't on the tallest in The Nest, but it was at least five stories up, counting the ground floor, _and_ they were a good two blocks away from the Mess Hall.

"What if we had an excuse?"

"Who's going to excuse us at this hour?"

Robin thought for a moment. "Well, _I_ don't have an excuse, but maybe _you_ do."

"How's that?"

"Here's the plan." Robin drew an invisible map on the roof. "You escort me to my quarters and tell the head of my building that you had gone out after dinner to look for me. By the time you found me, bedtime—I mean, curfew—had almost started, so you couldn't get to your building in time without making sure I didn't get lost. The head of my building can give you a note for you to give to your building head, and you'll be excused!"

"That's… surprisingly devious."

"It's not a total lie."

"That's part of why it's devious… there's just one problem."

"What is it?"

"How will _you_ be excused?"

"I won't." Macaw opened his mouth to protest. "It's okay! My building head is used to me messing up! I'll probably just have to clean the bathrooms in the morning. It'll give me something to do when I inevitably wake up an hour before we're supposed to."

"Or you could be told to do extra sit ups at PT. You hate sit ups."

Robin frowned thoughtfully. "I _do_ hate sit ups." He shook his head. "Oh well. We can't both get out of this one without a loss, so I'll take one for the two-man group!"

Macaw's brow creased, and his frown was less professional and more genuine. "You don't have to do that…"

"I _want_ to." Robin stood up and held a hand to his partner. "Come on, partner. Let's go to bed."

Macaw slowly took his hand and let Robin pull him to his feet. "You're an absolute egg, Robin."

"Yeah," Robin grinned, "but I'm _your_ egg."

"Yes…" Macaw's frown lightened a bit; the closest thing Robin had seen to a smile. "Yes, you are."

**Author's Note:**

> I did a lot of research (and by that, I mean a few Google searches) on unpopular British foods. Brussel sprouts, curry, tripe, and crumpets are apparently near the bottom in some surveys. Crumpets can also be savory or sweet. So that's a thing I learned today.  
> -  
> I imagine that Robin likes sweet foods. Macaw, on the other hand, prefers savory foods, but nicer quality savory foods, like good meat and salted sunflower seeds (haha get it he's a bird). Robin would prefer candy coated sunflower seeds. Surprisingly, Robin doesn't get sugar highs; his body has enough natural energy that sugar doesn't seem to have an effect on him.  
> -  
> We know absolutely nothing about either Macaw or Robin, but I imagine they both likely would have started off with quiet lives in a suburb or country area of the UK, before somehow getting tangled up in Targent.  
> -  
> Who is Bronev trying to impress with his headquarters? I mean, it's intimidating, but—oh. Nevermind.  
> -  
> Anyway, I'm going to be having dinner soon, so I'll leave this here. THESE BOYS NEED MORE CONTENT! And with that little message, I'll leave you be. See you all later. Until then!


End file.
